इंतज़ार....

tere bina saanjh dhalthi nahin
andheri raath kat thi nahi
tere intezaar mein main khadi rahi
mehsoos hota hai, tum aa gaye kahin

aankhon mein tere sapne suhane
yaad aathi hai tumhare nakhre bahane
gunguna dethi hoon aise hi kuch gaane
teri un yaadon ko barkharaar rakhne

teri yaadein jalathe hain in naram honton ko
tadpaathi hain in nasheeli aankhon ko
lagthi hai aag mere dil ke paron par
ro dethi hoon main, dho boondein tapkaakar

shyaam ki woh tandi hawa ka jhonka
bikharthi hai meri khaali ghata zulfon kaa
yaad dilaathi hai teri un shararathi baaton ka
aur meri sharmaane ki un tareekhon ka

chaand sitaarein sunaathi hain mujhe prem kahaniya
yaad dila deti hain mujhko teri woh jhooti vaadiya
dekar main tumhe main ek dho gaaliyan
chali jaathi hoon andhar savar ke baaliyan

aakhir thak gayin hoon raah dekhathe
meri aahat ko tum kyon nahi samajhthe?
khule hain darwaazein mere dil ke priyatam,
intezaar main khadi hai, teri sargam!

Sookhein hain yaadein teri...

Mark the Star

How wonderful it is,
To be what you are.
"I am what Iam"
Is the pitch to be a star.

Lets discover thee,
Within and without
So shall we grow,
Into a tree, spring sprout.

To evolve into a whole,
It takes pangs and pains.
Listen to your instincts,
To realize the mains.

Channelize the thought,
Yet, stay open. Stay broad.
Be kind. Be generous,
Make your way. And be glad.

Put up the best,
on the canvas of life
The tools you need -
are both brush and knife

Explore your potential.
Stand on the rainbow.
You shall be rendered,
a salutation and a bow

But, do care to declare,
how much to all, you Owe
That is when you stand out.
A shining star, hanging low!

L 'n' L

Life is a merry melody
Love is a haunting rhapsody

It is the unltimate remedy
For all world's greatest tragedy

We are now bound in a custody
In a wonderful net of spasmody

Monalisa: The mysterious smile :)

An enchanting smile,
"more divine than human".
casts a splendorous magic
around the florentine woman.


The lady's enigmatic smile
accounts so much puzzle!
Embedded in a scandulous file
creates a silhoutte of hazzle


The painted lady has eversince -
been the endless speculation.
The mysteriousness of her smile,
springs in hundreds of interpretation.


No curator does dare to work,
on this splendid master piece.
Running the risk of wiping, the smile,
off the striking, marvelous face.


All have grappled desperately,
with her smile, that strides.
As yet seeking helplessly,
what the tight lipped smile hides.


The innocence of the portrait,
attracts any, for its beauty.
Her soft seeming eyes follows you;
where ever you step, is indeed gaiety.


Its the subtle homage, Leonardo the genius,
has rendered in the past.
To the living face, which makes a milestone,
in the history of visual arts!


She smiles. And she smiles.
Haunting every heart.
The mystery prevails,
Across and away. Within and without.

Soft corner...

You've met her for the first time at your friend's party. She's a bit quiet and not as well-dressed as you. She seems to lack the ‘finesse' that most of your friends usually have and, here's the clincher, she speaks when her mouth is full of food! Meanwhile, in the back of your head you're thinking, ‘Maybe this isn't the kind of person I want to be around too much.'

A little later you find out that the lady you met at the party is one of the nicest people your friend knows. She also happens to be having an extremely rough life. And then you remember her warm smile when she first saw you and wonder how someone going through so much could gather the energy to give somebody else such a beautiful smile.

How often have you experienced this? Sometimes it's a business associate, a colleague or a distant relative. Often, you size up the person in the first few interactions and create an image of him or her in your mind. After which, you view everything the person does from that frame of reference.

Fortunately (or unfortunately?), we humans are not as simple as that. There are times when we can act as angels sent by the gods and others when we can be plain nasty. All of us, without exception, have some extraordinarily fantastic qualities and some really bad ones. So judging people is similar to behaving like one of the six blind men in that famous poem where they try to describe an elephant. One of them touches the elephant's trunk and says it is like a snake while another touches its sharp tusk and says it like a spear. And both couldn't be further from the truth. Our problem is that, like the blind men, we look at only a few aspects of people's personalities and generalise them to the rest of the personality.

We are too quick to point fingers at others. Ignorant of our own glaring weaknesses, we authoritatively pass judgement on other people. And the worst part of it all is that we turn out to be the biggest losers. We miss out on their good qualities and, worse still, on the possibility of building beautiful relationships. There is much to learn from everyone we come in touch with, but only for an unbiased mind. This is why George Bernard Shaw said the most intelligent person he had met was his tailor. When asked why, he replied, “Because he is the only one who takes fresh measurements every time I go to him”. Similarly with us, it is important that we look at people we meet with a clean slate every time.

Another crucial factor in overcoming this tendency to judge others is developing a sense of understanding and empathy. We all have burdens and problems that we carry. If we acted with this awareness when dealing with people, we would make our lives a lot easier and more peaceful. How would I feel if I were in the other person's place? Would I behave any different? These are some of the questions we should ask ourselves when we're tempted to judge others. There is much more depth to people than we see. Even the seemingly most superficial person has an extremely humane element while the best among us have some very dark attributes.

From a higher, spiritual standpoint, it is important to understand that each one of us is a manifestation of the one, invisible Divinity. The same eternal spark that lights you, lights everyone else around you. And when you are able to see the One in the play of many, you learn to look at the world with soft eyes.

Who am I??

2008 is here!Its party time. A chance to host. To raise a toast. To raise a new calendar on the wall. It’s the dawn of yet another year (this one is a leap year at tat!! 366 days!!). A year has passed by in jus a blink of the eye. Sigh! I just feel so very exhausted. I need a lot of time to myself (That’s probably the only resolution for this year).

Cheers, fears, and tears. 2007 hasn’t been a very eventful year for me. Just screwed up a lot of things. When I think back, I just feel I could have acted a little diligently about a few things. But time is not gonna grant a second chance. Does it?(How I wish it could!). I move on. Presuming, “what ever happens, happens only for good”. Jus wanna let bygones be bygones. But wonder if I can, for the thoughts are so deep rooted in my heart and haunting at tat. Its not easy!
I realize that I am just very comfortable being alone, all to myself. I can stay comfortably without speaking to anyone for the whole day. Silence is truly Golden, I realize. There is this sudden quietness within me. As if the ocean has returned to its natural quietude after the waves have hit the shores fiercefully. I feel numb! Nothing really seems to be affecting me. My thoughts have taken a back seat. Memory slumbers!

I feel like screaming to the world to let me be me. I realize that I am not what I used to be. I am not what people knew me a couple of years back. I have 'changed'! But I now am making sincere efforts to get back to what I was. The gal who was much loved and most wanted (I laugh at myself for I think its worth to be a good joke. There is a drop of tear at the verge of my eye. There is pouncing pain in my heart!). Can the identity of a being change jus coz he or she is associated with something or someone? Does anyone really have the ability to change YOU? The REAL you (especially if you are a person who believes in doing only what is right and not what is assumed to be right!?)? Is it right to expect a person to change to your own needs? IIs it not suffocating when somebody expects you to be someone who you really are not. To mend (??) to their wants, their desires!? But yes. You end up changing yourself just coz you are compelled to 'change' and 'adapt' to something coz the situation demands it out of you. Isn’t that crazy?
In fact some people (some cases, situation personifies itself) who are so capable of influencing and mesmerizing (may I call it hypnotizing??) you, that you end up being puppetted by them. I don really believe such a change is for good! Eventually, you are not what you are until you forcefully get rid of it. Why does life put us in such testing times? It tires you. Drains the energy out of you. Zapped, I lay there!

I often get to hear these wise sayings “Be the change you want to see in this world! Change is the only constant! What ever happens, happens only for good. This is yet another phase. This will pass by too. Nothing is stagnant.” huh..What do you intend to conclude, people?? I am thoroughly befuddled and bewildered with these thoughts! I am lost. I just can’t seem to conclude anything out of this (I am already into the infinite loop!). Who am I??
What am I?? What am I here for?? Ufff…

Howz Life????

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon and I had been out for lunch with a friend of mine al fresco. One of my old friends pounced on me unexpectedly from no where and both of us were so happy to see each other! She, in her deep voice, asked me - “Its been such a long time dear… So, howz life??”. I stood there puzzled for a second, without any answer, for I really didn’t know wat to tell. I was at loss of words. Yet, I jus managed to throw up something tat hit my puzzled mind at tat moment.

It is such a difficult question to answer indeed! It is about L.I.F.E.!! What I answered at that moment was wat I felt at that instance. But wat about life? As said, it is pretty much an experience you gotta go through and you definitely can’t find an apt answer. Its a feeling that only u can sense. Life a journey. A concoction of all seasons. Ripples of pain n pleasure, success n failure, buffet the waters of life. So at any given instance, life is what you are going through at that very moment, how u r exactly feeling at that very minute! Right? I always wonder how much weightage that carries.

And all of us wanna feel “great” at any such given instance. A happy life is just a string of happy moments. But many of us don’t allow the happy thoughts to sink in and seep in coz we tighten our senses and are so busy trying to “get” a happy life. In the course, we jus forget to live it! Life is to Live. Phew! It is so much to the perception of the perceiver. I am jus in a state of deep thought. Puzzled, yet again![wink] But yet, for me, LIFE is to “Look ’IN’ For the Eternal”. Then, life becomes a blissful living and you shall always stay blessed to answer that question in a blissful state. Life indeed becomes a celebration, celebrating “U”. I am yet to celebrate “me” so that I can answer the question,”howz life?”. Happy Celebrations!! [smile]